


No Time For Soulmates

by N1t3sh4d3



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Broken Bones, F/M, I needed a bad guy, James Griffin is a jerk, Light Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, light fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 16:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16538021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N1t3sh4d3/pseuds/N1t3sh4d3
Summary: So what if soulmates are supposed to be a thing? So what Katie has a soulmark on her hand and a phrase on her wrist? She's been let down far too many times before to pay them any mind now. And if things are far too chaotic for her to notice they were activated, well who could blame her?





	No Time For Soulmates

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hailqiqi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hailqiqi/gifts).



> So this was part of a Plance server challenge. The rules were:
> 
> Premise: Pidge has arrived at an incorrect conclusion and is upset.
> 
> Your fic must be LONGER THAN 300 AND NO LONGER THAN 1,500 WORDS (STRICT limit) and include the following:
> 
> 1\. James & Lance interaction  
> 2\. Soulmates (in any form; does not have to be a Soulmate AU)  
> 3\. A disciplinary action
> 
> I failed the word count miserably. (No one is surprised by this) Shockingly, this is only light angst. Please enjoy!
> 
> Comments and kudos welcome.

          Katie never bothered with the whole soulmate nonsense. It just didn't matter to her. At least that's what she kept telling everyone (and herself). It was probably because she had heard her supposed soulmate phrase too many times to count at this point. Or that her soulmark never changed from the light gray that had always decorated her palm. 

          The first few time she had heard it and someone touched her hand after she'd silently got excited enough to explode, only to be crushed by disappointment. She quickly became indifferent to it. Her parents tried to soothe her but saying that two marks weren't always tripped at the same time. Katie quickly grew to disbelieve that. Everyone knew the phrase that was on your inner wrist, were the first words your soulmate said to you and the mark on your body was the first place they touched you. There were _ very _ few cases of one triggering before the other.

          She decided that her soulmate lived far away or they would end up platonic. With that decided, she threw herself into her studies. Learning was easy. Katie kept herself busy with lots of side projects. This year was proving to be mildly challenging. Some of her teachers had offered to give her some college level coursework after she finished several projects not long after they were assigned, but she was expected to keep up with her regular assignments as well. This week was going to be brutal she had four essays due, a project due for history class, a coding project and her calculus homework due. With everything on her mind, it was no wonder she wasn’t paying attention to exactly how the next few minutes unfolded.

 

She heard shouting in the halls, which was so common she barely paid attention. Then several people crashed into her, shoving her into a crowd standing by the lockers and causing her to fall rather hard.

 

“Hey, watch it Shorty!”

 

Katie rolled her eyes as she gathered up her books and went to stand up, eyes widening when she looked up to see a hand extended down to help her up. She glanced at the face that went with the hand, to find deep blue eyes and a bright smile. 

“That’s a good way to get trampled. You okay there?”

“Yeah, thanks. Maybe if those idiots would quit fighting in the halls, some of us wouldn’t have to worry about getting trampled,” she grumbled taking his hand. 

          As he helped her up a somber look crossed his face, “They’re about to really get in trouble now. Principle Iverson looks like he’s on the warpath. Keith seriously should know better by now. James will get off with a slap on the wrist again and he’ll get detention.”

          She watched in surprise as that was exactly what happened. James looked entirely too smug after he played the victim, blaming Keith for the fight and overriding witnesses. Keith got two days detention. She frowned at the whole thing. This didn’t sit well with her and she was going to find a way to expose James. The boy next to her scowled at Iverson’s back. Then with a sigh, he faced her again. A look of slight horror crossed his face.

“Oh my god, my mom’s going to kill me! Where the hell are my manners? I totally forgot to introduce myself. The name’s Lance,” He held out his hand again with an embarrassed smile.

She huffed a slight laugh, “Ka-”

“Pidge! Are you okay? I saw what that asshole did. Iverson should suspend that menace!" Matt ran up, grabbing her shoulders while looking her over. Then he noticed her companion. “Oh, hey Lance. Thanks for helping Pidge.”

“Hey, Matt. Shiro. James was more of an ass than usual. He was really trying to get to Keith this time. Iverson wouldn’t even listen to Hunk or Allura this time.” Lance shook his head. 

Shiro narrowed his eyes at that. “Coming from you, that’s a pretty serious accusation. Iverson is really starting to let his bias show. This can’t keep happening.”

Katie smirked at them, “What if we could do something about it?”

Lance and the others exchanged a glance. “What do you have in mind?”

  
  
          As they approached Iverson’s office there was a small crowd of angry students, led by Hunk and Allura. Iverson was standing there impassively. The crowd parted with gasps and Iverson finally seemed to react. Shiro and Lance helped Katie hobble up, a very angry Matt following. 

“What are you going to do about this, PRINCIPAL Iverson? Your golden boy James knocked my sister down and she has a pretty badly twisted ankle now. We need to take her to the hospital to get it checked out.”

“Wha??? Ahem. I’m sure it wasn’t James. Are you certain it wasn’t-”

“I saw the whole thing. So did the crowd that he shoved her into. He didn’t even bother to check to see if she was okay.” Lance snapped. 

          Iverson’s face paled at that. Everyone could see the struggle on his face. Reprimand James and believe Katie, his star student? Or ignore an obviously hurt Katie and let James get away with it? From the expressions on those around them, it was obvious the other students would back Katie. Just then, James sauntered up. He frowned at everyone. 

“What the hell is your problem? I need to talk to Iverson right now. My parents are on their way.”

“Are you even going to apologize?” Matt seethed.

“For what? Oh her? Maybe that stupid shorty should watch where she’s going. Not my fault she got in the way.”

Shiro grabbed Matt before he could lunge at James. Lance shifted so he was fully supporting Katie and realized what a good thing that was. She looked ready to punch James herself. 

“Oh, so it’s MY fault you decided to pick a fight with Keith and smash me against the lockers?”

“Quit being so dramatic. You’re fine. I saw you standing on it right after everything. If you were hurt so bad, you wouldn’t have been able to stand.” James said with a superior air. 

          “Shows what you know. Soft tissue damage can be slower to inflame. That’s why they suggest car accident victims get checked at least two or three days after. You could at least apologize.” Lance was beginning to get angry. He threw a dark look at Iverson, then noticed Hunk on the phone. 

“Whatever loser. I’ve got more important things to do.”

“James. My office. NOW.” 

          There was a collective sigh of relief as Iverson stormed into his office behind James. The guys helped her out to Matt’s car after Hunk promised to let them know what happened. Allura went to see Vice Principal Montgomery to make sure that, at least Matt and Katie, would be excused for the rest of the day. They chuckled at the prank as Matt unlocked the car. Katie started to put weight on her foot again and let out a yelp, almost falling again. Lance caught her as everyone frowned.

“I thought you said you weren’t hurt!” Matt’s concerned was overlaid with anger.

“I...I didn’t think I was!” Katie snapped back, her ankle throbbing. 

          Lance helped her into the passenger seat as Shiro and Matt came over. Shiro knelt down and looked at her questioningly. She gave a quick nod and he removed her shoe, pulling down her sock as well. The three of them hissed, as she looked down in surprise. Her ankle was a light purple and she was about to cry in pain from all the gentle prodding Shiro was doing. 

          “Hey. Hey. Breathe. Pidge, deep breath. Good. Now out slowly. If you hold your breath it will just make the pain a million times worse. Breathe through it. Can you move it at all?” Lance’s voice was calm, but there was a current of concern.  She followed his instructions but shook her head as she tried to move it. “Damn it. You should get her to the hospital. Hopefully, it’s just a bad sprain and not a break. Did you hear or feel anything pop?”

Katie chuckled a bit, “In that chaos?” 

“Okay, let’s get you to the hospital. I’ll let you know what happens.” Matt cut everyone off and waved as they left.

 

          Katie lay awake that night, her leg aching from her fractured ankle and her thoughts a mess. In the waiting room, Matt had slightly freaked out that her soulmark was shimmering. She hadn’t even noticed it! A quick glance also showed her words were shimmering too. When had all this happened? As she desperately tried to remember the day, the only things that stood out were James voice when he called her Shorty and Lance pulling her up from the ground. She had never hated this whole soulmark business so much before. One person having two soulmates was almost as unheard of as soulmarks tripping separately. Lance was nice enough but the thought of James as her soulmate made her nauseous. She would have to see what happened tomorrow.

          When she hobbled into school on crutches the next day, all eyes were on her. Shiro had warned them that news spread fast. James was pissed. He had gotten a call home and thought she was faking. He and his cronies were going to try to make her life difficult. She saw James leaning against the lockers, looking content and Lance right in his face. She started to move forward when she heard James say, “Don’t be an idiot. Of course, I care!” 

          It occurred to her how close they were. Almost close enough to kiss. Her hypothesis was completely incorrect. James and Lance weren’t her soulmates. She must have brushed against someone else. That’s what she gets for trying to hope again. She clenched her hand, shimmering palm covered by nails digging in and fought back tears as she stared at the words mocking her on her wrist. 

_ Hey, watch it Shorty! _

Katie forced herself to take a deep breath and began to move away when she heard Lance say, “..... _MY_ Soulmate!” and saw him punch James right in the face. 

          Astonished, she watched as James spluttered but a crowd surrounded them. She crutched closer. James jumped up, blood running down his nose and swung at Lance. They went back and forth a few times, no one really landing a blow until they heard Iverson and Montgomery yelling to break it up. The crowd parted just as James landed several quick punches to Lance’s stomach and face. Lance went down in a heap, Hunk yelling for him and James screaming that Lance took the blows on purpose.

Montgomery strode forward and looked at the students. “Who started this?”

“James” was the unanimous reply.

“You’re all a bunch of liars! You know damn well that moron threw the first punch! You’re all on his side!”

Iverson looked at Katie, “Did you see what happened?”

She nodded, “James threw the first punch.”

          “You stupid, lying, bitch!” James rushed towards her, knocking her crutch out of her grip, as Iverson and Montgomery grabbed him. Lance was already there to catch her. He had the crutch gripped tight, a murderous look on his bruised face.

          “I’ve heard quite enough. Principal Iverson, I believe a full review of incidents involving Mr. Griffin is in order. This could mean expulsion and your leniency is in serious question. We probably owe Mr. Kogane several apologies.” Mrs. Montgomery glared at both Iverson and James. “Ms. Holt, my apologies. Mr. McClain, please see the nurse, then come by my office after lunch.” Wild cheers followed the three of them down the hall. 

Lance handed her the crutch as he smiled sheepishly. “Thanks for that, you didn’t have to.”

“Someone had to prove what an ass James is. Besides, I didn’t take several punches to prove it.”

He shuffled his feet. “Yeah, well...Like you said. It was the easiest way to show them.”

Katie cocked her head questioningly, “What did he say about your soulmate to get you so angry?”

Lance turned bright red at that, “You heard that?”

          “Yeah. Whoever they are, they are very lucky to have you. It was a very chivalrous thing to do.” Katie looked down and scuffed her toes on the ground. She looked up after a moment to see Lance staring at her open-mouthed. “Wha..what?”

          His eyes darted to her wrist and then her hand. Confused, she followed the look. Her wrist and palm still shimmered. It was resolving into a pale blue rainbow. She looked at his and almost dropped her crutches as she grabbed his hand. His palm and the words  _ Yeah, thanks  _ were shimmering a pale green. She felt a pulse of warmth when their hands connected and shivered.  “What? When? I didn’t….What?” She looked up to see him smiling. 

          “I’ll forgive you for not noticing right away. A broken ankle will definitely throw anyone’s perception off. I noticed right away. I can imagine you’ve had the same frustration with having such a common, simple sentence as part of your mark.” He laughed as she smacked his shoulder lightly, then grew serious. “I won’t put up with anyone bad mouthing a friend, let alone my soulmate.”

“I guess now would be a good time to suggest getting to know each other? School lunch isn’t the best, but it’s a start?” Katie suggested. 

Lance laughed. “That sounds like a start. Can I suggest ice cream after school as well?”

“Deal.” 


End file.
